by Kirsten Boie
He put the phone back in his pocket. “I’ll give you the signal,” he said. “And men, be very gentle. We’re not dealing with a criminal here. This is our princess, and she’s not being accused of anything worse than mental instability.”
“And overeating,” murmured the driver.
“That’s no reason to use excessive force,” said the officer. “So let’s not get excited. Now, each of you find your own hiding place.”
The sneeze was so loud that for a moment the whole yard seemed to freeze. A forklift screeched to a stop, and something fell to the ground. Jenna only caught a glimpse of the sudden standstill before they were up and away. Every head had turned toward the place where she and Perry had been hiding behind the trees.
Jenna was grateful for all the hours she’d spent running round the campus at Morgard. Proof! she said to herself. Everything has its purpose. Behind her she could hear Perry already beginning to pant.
“Hurry!” cried Jenna. There was no point in keeping quiet now, or in trying to hide. The men’s shouts were echoing behind them “You can do it, Perry! We’re almost there!”
Even before Perry reached the moped, she had pulled it up and turned on the ignition. As soon as he jumped onto the seat in front of her, breathing heavily and trembling all over, the machine leaped forward onto the road.
“Go, go, go!” cried Jenna. “Faster, Perry, faster! They’re on foot — they can’t catch us!”
Perry accelerated, and the moped raced along the road as the angry shouts behind them faded away. Soon, there was nothing to be heard except the noise of the moped and their own heavy breathing. They had escaped.
Jenna felt light-headed. It really was like one of those thrillers! All they had to do now was convict the gangsters.
“Can’t you hear?” Perry cried, breaking into her fantasies. “They’re coming after us in their trucks! Hold on tight, Jenna. If they catch us …” He turned the throttle, but they were already traveling as fast as the little moped could go.
The noise of engines behind them was getting louder. “Faster, Perry, faster!” Jenna urged again. In stories, the heroes never got caught.
The moped gave a great howl, as if trying to summon up all its strength; then the engine spluttered and died.
“Perry!” cried Jenna. Why had the engine cut out? “What happened?” She realized, panic-stricken, that they were slowing down.
Perry turned the ignition again and again, but the motor remained silent.
“Gas!” he whispered in despair. “We’re out of gas! I didn’t fill it up earlier. I wanted to save money, and I didn’t think we’d be …”
He made a sudden decision, and steered the moped between the trees. It began to skid, but he straightened it up. The uneven ground slowed them still more, but for a little while they continued to freewheel through the moonlit night.
“That’s it,” said Perry, and got off. “At least they won’t be able to see us from the road now.”
He crouched behind the trunk of a pine tree. The ground between the trees was covered with low-growing blueberry bushes. It was absurd: Just a few hours ago, Jenna would have been delighted. Berries meant food. But now she would have given anything for some tall cover, with or without berries.
The sound of the trucks seemed to be drawing threateningly close.
“But they’ll see our tracks in the sand!” said Jenna desperately. “If they just look at the side of the road, they’ll see exactly where we turned off into the woods.”
At that moment, the moon disappeared behind a cloud.
Perry gazed at Jenna. She saw that there was a smile on his face. “Shh!” he whispered, as if someone in the passing trucks might hear them. There was a drone of engines, a whole convoy of them. And then the sound faded away into the distance.
For a few seconds, Jenna did not dare move. Her heart was beating as hard as if she had just run her first marathon.
“But why?” she asked. “Are they blind?” The moon came out again from behind the cloud. Its light suddenly seemed as friendly as a fairy tale. Hansel and Gretel, she thought. “Why didn’t they see our tracks?”
Perry pointed up at the sky. “Because of that!” he said softly. “Now let’s get out of here! If they come back and start searching for us again, and the moon’s still shining …” He shrugged his shoulders. “Then we’re done for. And believe me, I still don’t want to go to the military academy.”
“But where to?” asked Jenna. “Where can we go?”
“Home!” said Perry. “To the navigator’s house. They’ll stop looking for us soon. And they don’t know where we came from. They must be scared of the police, too. They’re probably rushing to empty their warehouses.” He had started walking.
“So you think they’re criminals?” asked Jenna. Her heart was beating more normally now. Perry had called the navigator’s house home. She had shaken out the carpets and picked flowers.
“I don’t know who they are,” said Perry. “But whatever they’re up to, it can’t be legal. Those hangars? Otherwise they wouldn’t be unloading all that stuff in the middle of the night!”
Jenna agreed.
“But I’ve got my suspicions,” said Perry. “It could also be …” He glanced across at her. “… the rebels. All the shortages? Maybe the rebels take all the food, all the supplies, to this depot to hide them. That’s what they keep saying in the papers. Maybe they’re right.”
“But where would the rebels get it all from to begin with?” asked Jenna. “The food and everything? And all those trucks? Here on South Island. Think about it, Perry.”
They walked faster. “How should I know?” said Perry. “But it sure seems like there’s some connection, doesn’t it?”
He stopped and made another sudden decision. “I’m going to call my father,” he said. “We have to tell him exactly what’s going on. Then he can tell the police, and they can find out what it all means.”
Jenna looked at him. She knew that they could be traced as soon as they used a cell phone. And yet she understood that he had to do it. The criminals had chased them, and as long as they were still at large, she and Perry might not be safe.
“Why don’t you call the police yourself, directly?” she asked.
Perry hesitated. “Don’t laugh at me,” he said, “but my father … As far as he’s concerned, I’m just a loser. The biggest disappointment of his life. But if I uncover something like this now …”
“Oh, Perry!” said Jenna. She understood perfectly. Her mother was just as disappointed in her. This was a chance to prove they’d discovered something that even the Scandian police didn’t know about. “OK, then,” she said. “Do it.”
As they walked, Perry took his phone out of a pocket in his jeans and brought up the number on the screen.
Once the shooting had stopped, Nahira hid for a while in the bushes. She couldn’t go to Lorok, who was waiting for her in the pickup — that would have put him in danger, too. She just had to hope that he’d turned the truck around and drove away as soon as he heard the shots. But he was such a young hothead, she was afraid he might try to play the hero.
She listened to the sounds that were coming from the clearing. Mainly shouted orders, but at least no screams of pain. Then, very quietly, she climbed to the top of an oak tree — something she had not done for years. Up there she made herself a seat out of a fork in the branches and waited, in the hope that she would be safer where she was than down below. Only if they sent a search party with dogs would her hiding place risk exposure. Her trail ended at the foot of the tree, and a glance upward would be enough to deliver her into the hands of any pursuers.
But when dusk fell, she began to have doubts. Why hadn’t she heard anything for so long? Why no voices, no footsteps, no shouts, even in the distance? Where had all the soldiers gone?
They couldn’t have given up the hunt so easily, thought Nahira, trying to flex her limbs in her uncomfortable perch. One of her feet was threatening to g
o to sleep. No one followed me. It was just bullets. But why didn’t they come looking for me after that?
She looked down. There was an almost inaudible rustling in the dry leaves. A mouse. Or maybe a rabbit. They tried to shoot me, but after that they stopped searching.
I’m safe.
Before lack of light made it too difficult, she slowly let herself down, branch by branch. I was better at this when I was younger, she thought, and couldn’t help laughing. But then, who’d have imagined I’d need to climb trees again? She jumped down to the ground and stretched her limbs. She’d been living in hiding for so long that her whole body, eyes, ears, nose, were alert when there was even the slightest chance of danger. Sometimes her heart would start beating faster even before her eyes and ears had perceived the approach of trouble.
But now her heart was calm, and her breath was even. They’re not looking for me. I’m safe.
Not until she reached the road and still had seen no sign that she was being followed did she take out her cell phone. “You can come and get me,” she said softly. “As agreed. See you soon.”
She looked up at the blue-black sky. Up here in the remote north of South Island, there were so few settlements, and so few streetlamps or houses or lights of any kind, that the night belonged entirely to the stars.
But at home on North Island, the sky is even more lovely, thought Nahira, leaning against a tree while she waited. Nowhere in the world are the nights so beautiful as they are on North Island. Behind all those single stars the Milky Way still shines, like a white veil, millions of light-years away and yet just a minute in the timetable of the universe. I should look at the sky more often. Sometimes it’s a good thing to realize just how small we are, and how insignificant in the great web of the world.
She shook herself. This was absurd — the shock of what had happened earlier must have been greater than she’d tried to make herself believe. Once she started to tell herself how small and insignificant she was, the next step would probably be to accept that there was nothing she could do. But it was for precisely the opposite reason that she’d first joined the rebels. To do something. To change things. To improve the great web of the world — or at least the little web of Scandia.
“What a romantic I am!” she murmured. She glanced up again at the stars shedding their seductive light, oblivious to her change in mood. “Where’s Lorok?” Then she heard the engine.
“Nahira, thank God! I practically peed myself with fear!” cried Lorok, opening the passenger door of the old pickup truck. “I heard gunfire. Why didn’t you come?”
“Because I didn’t want to lead them to you, dummy,” said Nahira, flopping down into the seat. The springs had long gone, and as they drove away she could feel every inch of the rough ground below. It had almost been more comfortable sitting up in the tree. “Don’t tell me you sat there waiting for me all this time?”
“Of course I did,” said Lorok. “You didn’t think I’d just leave you behind, did you?”
Nahira groaned. “That was pretty dumb, Lorok,” she said. “They could have found you while they were hunting for me.” She was silent for a moment. “They didn’t find you, did they?” she asked.
“Am I or am I not here?” asked Lorok, turning down a narrow road.
“So they didn’t come looking?” asked Nahira warily. “You didn’t hear a search party? Bloodhounds?”
The truck stopped behind a hill. The hut, nestled in a hollow amid birch trees and tall grass, was dilapidated: Tiles were missing from the roof and glass from the windows. The shiny new satellite dish on a recently cut tree stump stood in striking contrast.
Lorok shook his head. “Nothing,” he said, jumping out of the truck.
“Nothing,” said Nahira thoughtfully. “Nothing.”
The front door opened. “At last!” said Meonok. “Come in. I know what happened.” In the one room of the darkened hut, standing on a base of empty fruit cartons, was a flickering television set.
“You know what they want you to think,” said Nahira. “Is there any coffee?”
Meonok looked at her uncomprehendingly. “What do you mean?”
“Can’t you at least answer my question first?” said Nahira. She was tired. Sometimes she wished that in addition to their courage these boys also had a little bit more common sense. “Have you made some coffee?”
Meonok nodded and poured her a cup. A small cloud of steam rose from the mug, and just the sight of it made Nahira feel better.
“Turn up the sound,” she said, glancing at the TV. “Well, well, they actually filmed the arrest!” She took a cautious sip, and the coffee burned her tongue, but she felt more alert now. “Just as I thought. They were all prepared.”
A man in uniform held a sheet of paper out toward the camera, and in bold block letters were the words PLAN FOR THE COUP. He folded it up again.
“And what’s that?”
“That’s the plan they found in Liron’s car when they arrested him,” said Meonok. “They keep showing it over and over again. Apparently, it’s proof that Liron was planning a coup with us. They say the Minister of the Interior is a traitor, and he’s going to be accused of high treason. And if they find him guilty …”
“A coup!” said Nahira. “Liron had no such plan with him!” The coffee cup was now empty, and she put it on the table. “How could we be so stupid? They probably had his phone bugged the entire time. Both of them.”
“That’s how they knew about the rendezvous,” said Lorok.
“I shouldn’t have called him,” said Nahira. “But I thought it was crucial for him to show the depot to the media.”
“That’s why they didn’t even have to follow him,” said Lorok. “They only had to wait for you both at the place you arranged on the phone.”
“Curse all these phones and devices and GPS!” said Nahira. “Curse the Internet! They can track you whenever they want. There’s no privacy anymore!”
“Calm down, Nahira,” said Meonok. “I don’t think it was any better in the days of smoke signals. When people sent each other letters, they always risked interception, you could always steam them open. And with radio signals, they could crack every code. Don’t tell me it was harder in the old days to spy on people.”
Nahira sighed. Over and over again the same images flickered across the TV screen, as if they needed to be imprinted forever on the minds of every single Scandian: Liron getting out of the car, walking toward her, and then the soldiers racing out of their hiding places, and her running away from a hail of bullets.
So why hadn’t they hunted her down?
When she’d seen the footage for the fifth time and knew every word of the commentary by heart, she finally understood the reason. There was no other possible explanation. Nothing else made any sense.
They didn’t want to catch her.
“Of course,” she murmured.
They had Liron, and that was all that mattered to them, to show that members of the government were secretly in league with the rebels. But if their ultimate aim was to topple the government — and it certainly was — then they had to go on stirring up people’s fear of the rebels, just as they’d almost succeeded in doing a year ago. They mustn’t capture the rebel leader too soon!
“Because then people would no longer be afraid of the rebels,” she whispered. “They deliberately missed me and let me escape. So that they could say I was still at large.”
She looked at Lorok and Meonok. “What a disappointment!” she said with a sigh. “I was so proud of myself for having escaped from half a battalion of soldiers, and all the while I was just carrying out their plan. They think they can manipulate us like chess pieces! But I have a few ideas, too. Boys, we have some planning of our own to do.”
On the moped, the journey hadn’t seemed very far, but on foot it seemed endless.
When the forest gradually became more familiar, Jenna began to feel the full effects of her tiredness. She had hardly slept for two days now, and it
would be morning again before she could finally lie down.
“I’m just dying for my bed!” she said to Perry. Since talking to his father, he’d been walking faster, and when she looked at his face, she saw that he was smiling.
“My father could hardly believe it!” he said. “He was speechless!” His smile grew broader. “And then of course he insisted that I come home. ‘Only if you promise that I don’t have to go to your fascist military academy,’ I told him. At least now he knows his son isn’t a total idiot! Ha! By now the police should be raiding those hangars.”
“Aren’t you tired, Perry?” asked Jenna.
He shook his head. “Too excited,” he said. “Are we going to boil some potatoes?”
“How?” asked Jenna, yawning. “There’s no electricity. And anyway, I don’t want to eat — I just want to crawl into bed. Without even brushing my teeth.”
“Oh no, I forgot to get toothbrushes!” said Perry. “Assuming they had any. OK, you’re excused, then.” He ran his hand over the top of the doorframe, and found the key. “Good night, Jenna.”
But that was as far as he got.
“Or should we say good morning?” said a male voice. It sounded amused.
Then three men jumped out, and Jenna knew there was no point in running. She was too tired, anyway. So now back they would go. To school. To Ylva. It had all been for nothing. She shouldn’t have even bothered picking the flowers.
The young man who had seized her was bending her arm behind her back. “Ouch!” said Jenna. But she wasn’t going to let them treat her like this. “Let me go!” she protested.
The older man who had spoken first, and was evidently the leader of the group, laughed. “I’m afraid we can’t,” he said. “Even though you’re a princess, we’re not able to grant your wishes today.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Jenna could see Perry trying to shake off his captor, but he had no chance against someone so much bigger and stronger than him.